Self-Cleaning Bins, Other Cleaning News, and Tips

In a first for the United States and the world, Akron-Canton Airport in Green, Ohio has revealed a new, fluidless cleaning technique for belongings based on nanotechnology. Working with Western Reserve Hospital and NanoTouch Materials, Akron-Canton will be providing high-tech disinfectant bins to travellers for their handheld devices and other belongings such as shoes.

These bins contain nanotech matting that has special mineral nanocrystals embedded in it. When the objects touch the mat, a chemical reaction occurs. This reaction is said to be stronger than household bleach and should easily kill off any germs left on the items. By providing these bins at no additional charge to all flights, Akron-Canton hopes to reduce the rapid spread of diseases such as cold and flu at airports and on aeroplanes.

Drones to Help Cleanup British Beaches

A new non-profit organisation is looking to use drone technology to survey and clean Britain’s beaches and seafront. Over the coming months, The Plastic Tide will be using aerial quadcopter drones with special imaging technology to survey over 30 different coastal sites throughout the United Kingdom. More than 30,000 photographs captured by special imaging cameras will be fed into computer software. But this is not a geographical or oceanic survey alone.

Through the use of algorithmic prediction, The Plastic Tide hopes to be able to build a system capable of automatically identifying pollution hotspots and plastic deposits. The algorithm will be trained via a website. The public will be asked to identify plastic patches in the seas around Britain from the photographs taken by the drones.

The level of plastic left on Britain’s beaches by international currents is increasing. However, scientists are unsure where the plastic is coming from, where it’s being deposited, and why it arrives at certain times. At the moment, only 1% of floating plastic can currently be accounted for.

Through improving our knowledge of oceanic plastic rubbish, The Plastic Tide hopes to improve both predictive clean-up of waste in Britain and international environmental science.

Avoiding the Spread of Germs in the Workplace

It’s always a good idea to stay on top of sanitation in your place of work. Through planning ahead, you can keep germs and illness to a minimum. Make sure that you wash your hands regularly and keep sanitary wipes close to each desk.

A wipe down of communal services at the end of each day will help to keep everything clean and tidy, as will regular scrubbing with a decent quality disinfectant of spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms. Make sure that your office or building is always stocked up with bleach, cleaning products, wipes, and soap as well.